Early Saturday afternoon, optimism hit NHL labor talks. After that, as with any sugar high, came the crash. By the evening of Day 112 of the NHL lockout, as the sides continued face-to-face meetings that began around 1 p.m., the mood had evened, and the buzzphrases had returned.

Cautious optimism. Slow progress. And, in a perfect world, a new CBA in the next few days. But, close counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, not labor negotiations.

The sides continue to argue about several issues, and the space between them, in some reported cases, is minimal, but it's not that easy.

"Slow progress is being made. We hope to continue meeting to resolve as many open issues as we possibly can in pursuit of an agreement," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Daly added in an email to the St. Louis Post Dispatch that the "dialogue has been good and there has been a healthy give and take. We resolved some open issues but still have a number to go."

A wave of positive reports hit Twitter around the time the meeting started, but they were tempered—quickly—by counterweights on the players' side saying that a deal wasn't quite as imminent as it seemed, however briefly. By 8 p.m. ET or so, just how close—or far—the sides were on the various outstanding issues started to reveal itself.

Remember, they agree on the big stuff: a 50/50 revenue split and $300 million in payments meant to help players recoup money they'd lose on contracts they'd already signed.

Other issues have had their time in the limelight—player pensions and contract variance are two, and they're not yet finished. Same goes for contract limits. They have agreed on how long the theoretical CBA can last: 10 years with an eight-year opt out, according to Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record. Players had previously been looking for a seven-year opt out.

The latest capital-letter Big Issue is Year 2 of the salary cap. And while the sides are close—obnoxiously so, really—things could derail at any point if one of them digs in. And that's these negotiations in a nutshell.

In this case, what it boils down to, is that they're arguing over $54 million. That may sound like a lot, and in most realms it is, but gross revenues in 2011-12 were $3.3 billion. $54 million is 1.6 percent of $3.3 billion. The league likely won't hit $3.3 million again because of the damage it's done to itself, but the point stands.

Those numbers are based on the proposed salary cap for 2013-14 from each side. The players, according to multiple reports and first reported by TSN.ca's Aaron Ward, are at $64.3 million. That's down from $65 million, which was down from $67 million. The league, according to Sportnet's Nick Kypreos, have moved from $60 million to $62.5. That's $1.8 million per team, multiplied by 30 teams, which amounts to $54 million.

As of 8:45 ET on Saturday night, the sides were still meeting with federal mediators/Twitter folk hero Scot Beckenbaugh, who'd spent much of the last two days walking the four city blocks between separate internal negotiations. It's not that far, but to Beckenbaugh it had to seem like more.